Steven Spielberg’s seminal 1977 science fiction film Close Encounters of the Third Kind charts the effect of a mysterious and traumatic alien abduction on average American man Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) on both his psyche and his relationship with his family. In Jodi Dean’s essay “Fugitive Alien Truth,” the UFO abductee phenomenon is examined through a sociological and political lens, illuminating many social aspects of the cultural phenomenon of the abductee that are present in Close Encounters. As Roy’s sense of self and identity begins to shift gradually away from his family, and he struggles to maintain a grip on his own reality, he reflects much of the symbolic power of the alien on the life of abductees, both in pop culture and in real-life accounts of alien abductions. Based on a close textual analysis of the infamous mashed potato scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind through Dean’s claims of the abductee resisting the dominant culture, Roy’s transition from the post-modern malaise of American life to his obsession with aliens seems to reflect an overall rejection of the expectations placed on him by society.
Dean and the Alien Abduction as A Disruption of Contemporary Life
Jodi Dean, in “Fugitive Alien Truth,” discusses the nature of UFO abduction both as a sociological phenomenon and the ways in which it is expressed by pop culture. UFO abduction is common and well-recognized enough in the collective unconscious of American pop culture that there are many tropes and signposts familiar to most Americans: the blinding lights in the sky, governmental agents attempting to hide the truth, and other things. Central to Dean’s points about UFO abduction narratives is their symbolic connection to truth, as if the dominant culture present within American life leaves people wanting for a greater sense of veracity and transparency within their lives. The government is thought to hide ‘the truth’ from the people, and so this pull to discover it becomes all that much stronger.
In Dean’s assessment, another way in which ordinary American life, the dominant culture within most UFO abduction narratives, is affected by these stories is the role of the alien as symbolic of greater anxieties about modern life within said culture. According to Dean, “The alien marks the radical strangeness and unknowability increasingly part of contemporary life” (Dean 31). What this means is that abduction stories, and the presence of aliens in the lives of abductees, become representative not only of this aforementioned desire to find a greater truth hidden under the surface of life, but a means of escape for American citizens who do not find satisfaction in the mainstream depiction of American life. The cultural markers of prosperity and happiness are not sufficient to provide fulfillment to these individuals, who seek something outside what they see every day and hope to seek a greater sense of truth within that. These people find contemporary life uncomfortable, uncertain and alien in its own way – the expectations of gainful employment, raising a family, and operating within the confines of American social and gender norms feel strange to them, leaving them seeking something more. The narrative of the alien abduction plays very much into that desire to reject the patriarchal, capitalist and government-reliant aspects of American culture to find something in which they belong.
With the rise of the Cold War in the second half of the 20th century, Dean argues that the combination of industrialized prosperity and the threat of mutually assured destruction created a series of fears and concerns that plagued many within the dominant culture. This makes UFO narratives, including the concept of the alien, a perfect fit for the fear Americans had of the unsuitability of their current living situation: “The shift in political context has enabled the alien to break out of the UFO subculture and serve as a repository for postmodern anxieties” (Dean 54). These postmodern anxieties about contemporary society are, in a way, relieved by the UFO abduction narrative, as it posits a tangible way to explore alternate ways of living that do not involve the stifling pressures of family, finances and the threat of nuclear annihilation in Cold War-era America.
Roy Neary, Mashed Potatoes and a Rejection of Ordinary American Life
Just as Dean supposes that the presence of aliens in the lives of abductees represents a greater cultural rejection of the stifling ennui of post-modern American life, Roy’s growing gulf between him and his family in Close Encounters of the Third Kind seems to echo this assertion. In one of the most iconic scenes from the film, Roy (already having built up tension between himself, his wife – played by Teri Garr – and kids) and his family sit down to an ordinary dinner, the quintessential cultural image of the American Dream. However, as Spielberg films it, the entire affair seems uncanny; none of the family members speak to each other, Spielberg framing many of the shots over character’s shoulders to evoke a sense of surveillance. Roy’s wife and children are all shown to watch Roy intently, especially as he begins to casually pile mashed potatoes on his plate. Roy, whose visage has now changed to a more serious sense of preoccupation and confusion, begins compulsively carving a mysterious ridged mountain out of the potatoes. Spielberg frames his face in extreme close-up to match his determination and compulsion, occasionally cutting back to split diopter shots of his family members staring at him with equal parts frustration, confusion and fear.
This portion of the scene echoes Dean’s points about the stigma and rejection mainstream society has placed upon abductees. American society refuses to lend credibility to abductees, whether or not it is warranted; as such, Roy’s wife and children represent this societal distrust and fear of abductees as ‘crazy’ or unhinged. Roy’s family represents the dominant culture that invests heavily in the mainstream in order to benefit from it; as Roy’s abduction has turned him into someone who rejects the dominant culture, they in turn reject him. In their choice to not believe Roy, they make the decision to conform to hegemonic social and political ideals present in American culture – trust in the government, American exceptionalism and traditional family values.
Roy, meanwhile, represents the psychological push and pull of the abductee who finds himself torn between the dominant culture’s assertion that he fill the role of husband and father to a traditional family unit and the more individualistic quest to find something more fulfilling elsewhere. Upon recognizing his family’s distrust of him, Roy begins to speak to them in a way that is meant to reassure them (and himself) of his own identity, despite the changes he has gone through: “Well, I guess you’ve noticed something a little strange with Dad. It’s okay, though. I’m still Dad.” This line showcases Roy’s temptation to maintain the security of his family unit, and thus his place in the American middle class – to reject Dean’s point that the alien experience represents the creation of a gulf between the individual and dominant culture. However, Roy soon gives in to his impulses, asserting his need to investigate these new compulsions: “I can’t describe it, what I’m feeling. What I’m thinking. This means something. This is important.” In doing so, Roy cements his separation from his family, as well as the traditional American roles he is expected to fill.
Conclusion
Dean describes the UFO abductee as someone who, in essence, is responding to the dullness and dissatisfaction they feel in the complicated post-industrial culture of postmodern America. Roy, in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, is just such an abductee; his experience with the alien creatures in question stir an anxiety in him that causes him to reject the provincial interests and priorities he is expected to have by the dominant culture – that of taking care of a family in a modest, middle-class existence. In the mashed potato scene, the stereotypical image of the American family sitting around the dinner table is disrupted by Roy’s odd behavior, and the scrutinizing gaze of the family. His eventual, unstable admission that he must reject their resistance to his new priorities is done in order to chase the “important” pull he is feeling toward the abject (as represented by aliens). Spielberg’s filmmaking, and the performances of the actors, solidify this scene – and the film itself – as indicative of Dean’s conflation of UFO abduction stories with a desire to find alternate ways of living than the mainstream path set out for them by contemporary American life.
Works Cited
Dean, Jodi. “Fugitive Alien Truth.” Aliens in America: Conspiracy Cultures from Outerspace to
Cyberspace. Cornell University Press, 1998. Print.
Spielberg, Steven (dir.). Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Perf. Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr,
Francois Truffaut. Columbia Pictures, 1977. Film.
